Reshaping Metropolitan America: Development Trends and Opportunities to 2030 (Metropolitan Planning + Design)

In most metropolitan areas, land values increase over time at least in proportion to population growth, and the higher the land value the more intensively land needs to be used to justify the cost of acquiring the property and redeveloping it.

is $6,000 per acre annually in the United States

the economic value of open spaces not developed

“public goods” because no one can be excluded from enjoying these benefits (by paying a fee, for instance) and everyone benefits equally (there is no congestion effect in the enjoyment of benefits), so they defy valuation in the private market.

living in a typical single-family detached home in an auto-dependent suburb, living in an energy-efficient attached home in a suburban location can reduce total building and transportation energy consumption up to 64 percent. Living in such a home in an urban location can reduce consumption by up to 75 percent.

Adjusting for the energy used to produce energy, transportation consumes nearly half (48 percent) of all energy, industry about a third (35 percent), and commercial and residential uses about 17 percent.

Even if all new homes built between now and 2030 were within walking distance of transit stations, the market demand for walkable transit accessibility would still not be met.

Understanding how we can get from where we are now to where market trends are headed is the purpose of Reshaping Metropolitan America: Development Trends and Opportunities to 2030.

improving building energy efficiency through such efforts as the US Green Building Council’s LEED scoring system, and changing transportation systems to meet emerging market demands can reduce greenhouse gas emissions more than tax incentives and massive alternative energy investments.